a material void


yesterday, i was talking to someone whose name maybe i should have known but instead had the nerve to ask...  : }

so i was at their store supposed to pick up something when he arrived...  his son pointed me out to him...  he asked for my name and hearing it, asked how i am related to so-and-so...  i said the guy is my father...  well, he knew my dad...  i therefore asked for his name, too, so i could tell my dad...

his name sounded familiar so when he left, i asked his son whose nickname, at least until that time, was all i knew...  well, it turns out he's supposed to be a well-known military figure...  ugh!  i did not know!

reminds me of a similar situation...  in college yearsssss (!) back, i figured in a collision (very, very minor, ok) along katipunan ave.  the other driver came out of her vehicle and greeted me with, "hi...  i'm bingo lacson."

i went, "i'm cynthia <surname>."

so we talked about the damage and how it would be settled and then went our separate ways.

guess what, when i was relating the story, everyone was like, 'you hit bingo lacson?!'

me:  'uh-huh...  who's she?'

it turns out she's a well-known radio personality...  uh-oh...  i don't listen to that station...  : }

just recently i was talking to someone who was giving me a rundown of the names of the supposed attendees to this eucharistic celebration.  the names did not at all ring a bell.

the guy kept on going, 'you don't know him?!  he composed this and that religious hymn!'

uhm, the hymns i know.  but i must admit the composers i haven't really heard about.  (we're not talking handel's messiah here, ok.  just popular hymns the composers of which are living priests.)

anyway, i'm thinking now i've lived my life without really knowing these people and i'd say i'm none the worse for it.   i guess it's because they are not really relevant to my existence.

i know larry ellison and scott mcnealy and carly fiorina and ron gula.  i don't really expect everyone to know them.  but certain people working in certain fields i definitely would be surprised, dismayed even, if i found out they don't know certain personalities.  let's just say that some knowledge are supposed to go with certain territory.  if you're in that field and you lack that knowledge then something is not quite right.

in addition, i think certain knowledge would be essential and universal  ->  not necessarily the terms but the concepts.  regardless of who you are, what you do, where you are, you have to know God and love and hope and tears and joy.  without such knowledge, there will be a material void in your life.

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